


The Person Behind the Photos

by writerjisung



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-28 18:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6339820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerjisung/pseuds/writerjisung
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dongwoo is photographer. Howon is a fan of his photos from his online blog. They meet for the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Person Behind the Photos

_These are all lovely. They’re all amazing._

This is what Howon thinks for every photograph on a blog that he checks every week when the photograph uploads their work. The photos range from things in nature, to animals, to buildings and even the most random things. No matter what they are, Howon thinks are all nicely shot. 

These photos are by the name of JW. He doesn’t know if it’s the initials of the person’s real name or if it means something else, but it doesn’t matter. Though, Howon only knows that the photographer goes by JW. He doesn’t know anything else about this person with the exception of what is listed under the biography.

_I believe the things in life are beautiful and I want to share it with everyone._

Howon thinks that a good way to look at life. The world is sometimes terrifying, but there are still wonderful things out there to be discovered. JW is definitely trying to show life through their own eyes. 

Howon went to the bottom of the latest update and left a comment, complementing the photos. He tries to comment on ever update, including the ones that were posted before he found the blog. From what he can tell, Howon is the only one that comments regularly and puts genuine thought into them. What’s the most surprising thing though is that JW themselves always replies with some type of _‘thank you, I’m glad you like them~’_. Howon noticed that JW tries to reply to everyone who comments, although it’s just him and maybe two or three others. But it makes him happy that the photographer acknowledges their fans.

Afterwards Howon decided to go out for a little bit. He had no destination in mind, but he doesn’t mind just simply going out for some fresh air. The spring season has just began, although still a little chilly. Most of the time Howon was minding his own business. It wasn’t until he saw someone in the distance taking pictures of one of the trees at the nearby park. 

Howon went towards their direction and saw clearly that they were a young male, probably around his age. As Howon got closer, he noticed that the guy actually has pink-ish hair, vibrant but nothing too flashy. He also noticed that he’s a bit on the shorter side, but it was actually kind of cute.  
Howon stopped when he was only a few feet beyond the boy, watching him carefully. Pink haired boy was changing the camera’s settings to how he likes it before finally taking a picture of the tree before them. Howon moved over to the left a little bit to catch the preview of the shot just in time before it disappeared from the screen.  


“It’s beautiful.” Howon said, before realizing he actually said it out loud.

The other guy nearly jumped out of his skin before turning around, facing Howon. He took a deep breath and laughed a bit when calm again.

“You’re going to take someone out if you sneak up behind them like that.”

Howon rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and looked off to the side. “I’m sorry….”

“It’s fine! How long have you been standing back there for? You know what, that doesn’t matter. You said my capture was beautiful. Do you really think so?” 

Howon saw the guy’s eyes lit up and it was very adorable, he thought. 

“I…uh…yeah. It was beautiful. You did well.”

“Oh my gosh, thank you!” pink haired guy nearly shouted in excitement, which took Howon by surprise. “I’m Dongwoo by the way.”

“Oh, I’m Howon.”

“Nice to meet you, Howon.” Dongwoo turned back to his camera and turned it off. “I would love to talk more, but I have another area to go to before the end of the day. Maybe we’ll run into each other again!”

“Or…” Howon said before he could stop himself, and Dongwoo was already looking at him, waiting for him to continue. “O-or we could just meet up somewhere sometime? I would like to see the final result of the photo you just took. Maybe some of your other photos as well, if that’s okay..?”

“Really?” Dongwoo looked like that was the best thing he heard all day with wide eyes and a big smile. “Here! Put your number in my phone and I’ll contact you when I’m free?”

Howon entered his contact information and gave the phone back to Dongwoo.

“This means we’re friends now, okay!” Dongwoo made it sound more like a statement than a question.

Howon nodded awkwardly. Dongwoo is truly adorable, as he thought before.

 

The next time Dongwoo was free was actually this Saturday, which was today. Dongwoo told him to go by this café in town and wait for him in one of the study rooms upstairs. It took a good five minutes for Dongwoo himself to arrive, but that didn’t bother Howon at all when the other guy walks in smiling brightly.

“We meet again!” Dongwoo put his laptop case down and took the time to boot it up. “Did you order anything yet?”

“No.”

“Do you want anything? Something to drink? Something to eat? Or are you not thirsty? Or hungry?” Dongwoo asked one question after another. “I haven’t had anything yet, so I might get two muffins or something and you could have the other one if you want. I won’t get coffee right now because I get a little crazy after drinking one and I don’t want to scare you off when I’m supposed to be showing you pictures. I might get hot chocolate. What do you want? Or do you not want anything? Wait I already-“

“I’ll have whatever you’ll have.” Howon cut off the boy who kept rambling. He didn’t mean it in a harsh way, but it just surprised him that Dongwoo talked so much.

“Okay! I’ll be right back.”

As Howon waited for Dongwoo, he watched his computer start up. A screensaver of a very familiar photo popped up along with the time and date. It took a second, but Howon realized it was one of JW’s photo’s that he seen on his blog. Could Dongwoo be a fan of JW as well? Maybe the know each other?

Dongwoo came back inside the study room, which scared Howon into sitting up straight and pretending that he wasn’t looking at Dongwoo’s personal stuff. Dongwoo sat their order on the table and handed Howon one of the cups.

“Hot chocolate!” After Howon took it, Dongwoo took one of the muffins and gave it to him as well. “Chocolate muffin!”

“You must like chocolate.”

“Who doesn’t?”

“True.”

“So Howon, while I pull some of my photos up, tell me about yourself.” Dongwoo sat down in front of his computer.

“I…” Howon didn’t know what to say, not prepared to tell his life story to someone he just met.

“How about this.” Dongwoo noticed that Howon was having trouble to speak. “What is your favorite color?”

Howon thought that was an odd question to start out with, but he went along with it anyway. “Purple.”

“Mine’s green. Are you a student?”

“I’m studying dance in college.”

“No way?! Me too! Oh my gosh, okay, what’s your favorite genre of music?”

“Hip-hop.”

“For reals? It’s mine as well! You and I have a lot in common already!” Dongwoo said happily.

It is amazing to Howon that he has a lot in common with someone. But wait, something doesn’t seem right. “So you’re still in school? I kind of thought photography was your job.”  
Dongwoo laughed for a good few seconds before answering. “No, it’s just a hobby! Life is beautiful and I want to capture every moment of it.”

Howon thought about what Dongwoo said for a moment. It sounded very familiar to him. That thought was gone when Dongwoo turned his computer towards him and start showing him some photos. The first one shown was the tree he took a picture of the other day, the exact one Howon said was beautiful. Seeing the full resolution of it made it hundreds of times much more gorgeous than just a small time picture from a camera.

“The final result is stunning.” Howon said in awe.

“I’m glad you think so! You see, I’m trying to do this thing where I take the same picture of this exact tree quite a few times a year to capture it in every season. I’m then going to merge them together and it will show how the tree looked throughout the year. I’m still waiting for this tree to be fully bloomed for the last picture.” Dongwoo explained the concept behind the picture. 

Howon nodded and found how Dongwoo explained his project endearing. Photography may not be a passion but it is something he loves doing.

Dongwoo then moved on to the other photos, explaining the concept behind all of them. Some stories were super short while others were pretty long. Dongwoo may talk a lot, but it was in a way that kept Howon interested. While they were going through the picture together, with the exception of about three or four photos, all of them he had seen before. To be exact, they are the ones he had seen on JW’s blog. 

“Hey…” Howon said, not realizing he was cutting one of Dongwoo’s explanations behind a photo off.

“Hmm? What is it?” Dongwoo showed concern.

“Do you happen to post your pictures online? As well go by a different name?”

Dongwoo shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “W-why…?”

“May I?” Howon asked permission before bringing Dongwoo’s laptop closer, opening a browser and typing in a familiar URL. “Your photos looked very familiar. In fact, I know I’ve seen them before.”

Howon turned the laptop back towards Dongwoo when the page loaded, and noticed right away that he looked a bit surprised.

“Are you….are you JW?”

Dongwoo took a good second to snap back out of it. He let out a small sigh and shrugged. “You found me out.”

“No…way…” Howon was surprised himself. He actually met the person behind his favorite pictures? “I follow your blog and check every update. I’m under the name LHW when I comment on your posts. I’ve been following your blog for a while now and I look forward to the next time you post your work. I…I can’t believe it’s really you.”

Dongwoo got overwhelmed with Howon’s words. “I…I never met a fan before…wow…”

“All of your pictures are amazing, Dongwoo. For someone who only does photography as a hobby, I’m impressed.”

“You really think that?”

Howon nodded. “I can’t believe I finally know who you are. This is amazing!”

For the rest of the afternoon, Howon listened as Dongwoo told his story about how he got into photography to why he decided to go by a penname instead of his real name. From watching to share life with the world to not wanting to be recognized by his real name, Howon realized that Dongwoo is actually an amazing person with an amazing view of life.  
And he really liked it.

 

A few months went by and Howon and Dongwoo are basically best friends at this point. They meet up every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday that it just naturally became a part of a weekly routine. A lot of those days they just spend hours at the café in the upstairs study room talking about the most random things to deep conversations. A few of those days, Dongwoo brought his camera and took a few shots here and there anywhere they were. It didn’t matter to Howon anymore that he met JW. He met the person behind the camera, behind the penname, who is honestly more beautiful of a person than he thought. 

Today, they met up at the park where the tree was in full bloom and Dongwoo wanted to get his final picture for his project. It took a few tries for him to get what he wanted, but after about an hour and a hundred shots, he finally got the result he wanted.

“You did well today.” Howon praised.

Dongwoo thanked him, getting ready to call it a day, but came out with another idea.

“Go lean against the tree.”

Howon was surprised at the instruction. “What?”

“Go by the tree and lean against it! I want to do something.”

So Howon went by the tree and leaned against, unsure of what Dongwoo wants him to do.

“Just be natural! Pretend I’m not here!”

Howon nodded a bit then tried to relax. _Just be natural…just be natural…_  
“Got it!” Dongwoo shouted.

Howon ran back towards him to see how the picture turned out, but by the time he got there, Dongwoo already turned off the camera.

“No! You’re not seeing this until its ready!” he teased, and in result, Howon whined.

When Dongwoo got all packed up, they were ready to part ways and said their goodbyes. But a thought came to his mind, calling his friend’s name out.

“What’s wrong, Howon?” Dongwoo asked after he turned back and moved closer to Howon.

Howon got nervous all of sudden. Why though? He just wanted to ask a simple question and it became hard to ask all of a sudden.

“I was wondering if…” Howon felt more awkward by the moment. Having Dongwoo look at him unwaveringly didn’t help at all either. “I mean…I was going to ask if tomorrow...you would like to come over? F-for dinner? Or something?”

_Nice job, Howon._

“Are you asking me out?” Dongwoo originally wanted to say teasingly, but was it really?

“N-no! I mean…” Howon felt very stupid.

Dongwoo tried to laugh naturally. “I’ll be there. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Howon felt a wave of relief over him. Though, Dongwoo turned around one last time to say something.

“Whether you were asking me out or not, I would have said yes either way.” Left turned away a final time to leave.

At that moment, Howon thought his heart stopped.

 

The following day, Howon was just finishing preparing dinner when Dongwoo arrived. He welcomed him and finished setting everything up before the both of them could settle down and eat. The first few minutes was hard for Howon to get through. Both of the friends were quiet and Dongwoo had a look on his face that shows he was thinking about something. Howon doesn’t want to say anything and if the silence doesn’t get broken soon, he might lose it.

“So…” Dongwoo finally spoke. “What made you like me?”

“W-what are you talking abo-“

“Please, Howon, I’m not stupid! I’ve noticed you look at me more often than anything else.” Dongwoo admitted, which honestly makes Howon wish he could hide. “I just want to know…please?”

“Well…” Howon felt his face burning and his heart pounding. He can’t deny it, so there’s no turning back. He might as well go ahead and admit it. “The person behind the photos online, you, is more beautiful than the photos themselves.”

Dongwoo’s eyes widen at the comment and looked away from Howon. “Please…”

“No. No, I mean it.” Howon stood up to move closer to Dongwoo, placing a hand under his chin so he can look at him. “Listen. Your work is amazing. Your view of the world is amazing. How you want to share that view is amazing. They’re all amazing. But honestly and truthfully, the person behind them all is where the real beauty comes from. That person is amazing. The real you, not the person on the blog.” 

Howon proceeded to pull Dongwoo up from the chair and closed the gap between them. Howon knew it was sudden and the shorter guy was stunned, but he did eventually kiss back instead of pulling away, which is always good news. The kiss eventually breaks and the two of them pressed their foreheads together.

“If you must know…” Dongwoo started out softly. “I like you too. I really, really like you. You understand and genuinely listen to my story behind each photo. You’ve supported me for a long time. You genuinely show interest in what I do. I never met a fan, a friend, who realizes these are not just something to look at. It’s something that’s comes from-“

Howon closed the gap between them again to get Dongwoo to be quiet for once. He gets it, he really does. He knows what Dongwoo will say afterwards. But this is a much better way of doing it. Honestly, Dongwoo apparently agrees as well.

 

A few weeks after Howon checked Dongwoo’s photo blog for the usual updates. Today, the tree project has been finally posted and he watched the photos the tree slowly turn into difference appearances for each season of the year, starting with the summer and ending with the spring. He read the note at the bottom of the photo.  


_The one year project has been completed._

Howon was proud of Dongwoo’s hard work even though he was only there for the last of it. He didn’t realize there was more to the note and began to read it.

_Within the year another thing has been completed.  
My life._

Howon didn’t know what that meant until he went back up to the change picture and saw something else in the spring photo of the tree. It took him a good while to realize that it was him leaning against the tree. This must have been the photo that Dongwoo took that he didn’t let him see until it was ready. It was beautifully done and Howon loves it. And he loves Dongwoo.


End file.
